Drain-pumped sub-harmonic mixer for millimeter wave applications

ABSTRACT

A sub-harmonic mixer includes a first transistor having a source and a drain and a second transistor having a source connected to the source of the first transistor and a drain connected to the drain of the first transistor. A mixing transistor is configured to be biased in a linear operating region. The mixing transistor includes a drain coupled to the sources of the first transistor and the second transistor. The mixing transistor has its drain driven by a signal at twice a local oscillator (LO) frequency and its gate driven by a radio frequency (RF) signal while the mixing transistor is biased in the linear region such that a process of frequency doubling and mixing are performed simultaneously.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/622,812 filed Jan. 12, 2007, which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

GOVERNMENT RIGHTS

This invention was made with Government support under Contract No.:N66001-05-C-8013 awarded by the DARPA—Defense Advanced Research ProjectAgency. The Government has certain rights in this invention.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to mixer circuits and more particularly tosub-harmonic mixers implemented in complementary metal oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) technology.

2. Description of the Related Art

Mainstream complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology formillimeter wave applications is gaining attention primarily due to itslow cost. However, as frequency of operation for these devicesincreases, for the circuits realized using this technology, it becomeschallenging to minimize uncertainties arising due to incomplete devicemodeling and process variations at the increased frequencies.

A mixer is an important part of any super heterodyne radio architecture.The choice of mixer topology at millimeter wave frequencies dependsheavily on the amount of local oscillator (LO) power available to drivethe mixer. The power governs the key performance parameters such asconversion gain, noise figure and linearity.

At millimeter wave frequencies the available power from a CMOS device islow; hence, topologies of mixers desirable in a millimeter wave systemshould be limited to ones that can operate at lower LO power levels. Itis also advantageous to have the LO source operating at a lowerfrequency (preferably a sub-harmonic of the required LO frequency todown convert the RF signal) because of ease of implementation,availability of better well-characterized passives and better phasenoise and tuning range with less susceptibility to parasitics. Such a LOsource could be followed by a multiplier to drive the mixer in thereceive and transmit chain or it could be used to form an input to asub-harmonic mixer (one that effectively uses a harmonic of the appliedLO signal to perform the mixing).

Mixers using Schottky barrier diodes are sometimes preferred atmillimeter wave frequencies because of their high cut-off frequencies inthe THz range. A structure using an anti-parallel diode pair is commonlyused to implement a sub-harmonic mixer. Fundamental mode mixers are alsoimplemented using these diodes. Structures of this type have a seriousdrawback. They require large LO power. The conversion loss and noisefigure degrade rapidly with reduction in LO power.

Among field effect transistor (FET) based mixers there are gate pumpedand drain pumped mixers. In gate pumped mixers the radio frequency (RF)and LO signals are applied at the gate of a FET and the intermediatefrequency (IF) signal is taken from the drain. The mixing occurs due tothe non-linear variations of the FET transconductance (g_(m)) as afunction of gate source voltage (V_(gs)). The FET is biased in thesaturation region with V_(gs) close to the threshold voltage of the FET(V_(th)).

In a drain pumped mixer, the LO signal is applied at the drain, the RFsignal is applied at the gate and the IF signal is taken from the drain.The mixing action occurs due to the non-linear dependence of g_(m) onthe drain source voltage (V_(ds)). In this case, the FET is biased atthe transition between linear and saturation regions where maximumnon-linearities are generated.

The drain pumped mixer configuration has an advantage over its gatedriven counterpart because of the inherent port isolation between the RFand LO frequencies. Further improvement to the drain pumped mixertopology results in a dual-gate mixer topology wherein the RF and LOsignals are applied to different gates thereby further improving RF-LOisolation. Also, the noise figure in a drain pumped mixer is found to belower than that of the gate driven mixer (where LO and RF signals areapplied to the same gate terminal) because of the low DC bias current ofthe FET also implying a low power implementation.

There have been implementations for CMOS frequency doublers and drainpumped mixers driven by a fundamental LO signal or twice the LO signalgenerated by such a frequency doubler. In Yang, et. al., “A 28 GHzsub-harmonic mixer using LO doubler in 0.18 μm CMOS technology,” IEEERFIC Dig. Of Technical Papers, San Francisco, Calif., Jun. 12-14, 2006,pp: 239-242, a frequency doubler similar to one in Yang et. al., “Lowpower fully differential frequency doubler,” IEEE Electronics Letters,vol. 39, no. 19, pp: 1388-1389, September 2003, is AC coupled to a RFtransistor at its drain to form a sub-harmonic mixer. However, thesedevices suffer from serious drawbacks, e.g.: (i) the drain of the RFtransistor is floating and hence the transistor is not biased properlyat DC, (ii) the circuit suffers from high conversion loss as well asnoise figure due to its complete passive implementation, (iii) thedevice is not suitable for very high frequency applications because ofthe stacked push-push NMOS/PMOS implementation which results in moreparasitics at the LO port.

SUMMARY

A sub-harmonic mixer includes a first transistor having a source and adrain and a second transistor having a source connected to the source ofthe first transistor and a drain connected to the drain of the firsttransistor. A mixing transistor is configured to be biased in a linearoperating region. The mixing transistor includes a drain coupled to thesources of the first transistor and the second transistor. The mixingtransistor has its drain driven by a signal at twice a local oscillator(LO) frequency and its gate driven by a radio frequency (RF) signal. Themixing transistor is biased in the linear region such that a process offrequency doubling and mixing is performed simultaneously.

Another sub-harmonic mixer includes n transistors, each having, a gate,a source and a drain, such that the sources are all connected and thedrains are all connected. Each of the n transistors includes a localoscillator (LO) frequency input to the gate of the transistors where theLO signal is 360/n out of phase for each successive transistor. A mixingtransistor is configured to be biased in a linear operating region, andthe mixing transistor has a drain coupled to the sources of the ntransistors. The mixing transistor has its drain driven by a signal at amultiple of the local oscillator (LO) frequency in accordance with the ntransistors and has its gate driven by a radio frequency (RF) signalwhile the mixing transistor is biased in the linear region such that aprocess of providing an output frequency and mixing are performedsimultaneously.

A differential complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)sub-harmonic mixer includes a first mixer circuit configured to receivea first differential input for a radio frequency (RF) signal and a firstdifferential input for a local oscillator (LO) frequency signal. Asecond mixer circuit is configured to receive a second differentialinput for the radio frequency (RF) signal and a second differentialinput for the frequency signal. The first mixer circuit and the secondmixer circuit each include a first transistor having a source and adrain; a second transistor having a source connected to the source ofthe first transistor and a drain connected to the drain of the firsttransistor; and a mixing transistor configured to be biased in a linearoperating region. The mixing transistor has a drain coupled to thesources of the first transistor, and the second transistor has its draindriven by a signal at twice a local oscillator (LO) frequency and itsgate driven by a corresponding differential radio frequency (RF) signalwhile the mixing transistor is biased in the linear region such that aprocess of frequency doubling and mixing are performed simultaneously.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof,which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The disclosure will provide details in the following description ofpreferred embodiments with reference to the following figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a CMOS drain pumped 2×sub-harmonic mixer in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a differential input/output 2×sub-harmonic mixer with high 2×LO-RF isolation in accordance withanother embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a CMOS drain pumped 4×sub-harmonic mixer in accordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a CMOS sub-harmonic mixer with aninter-stage transmission line stub in accordance with anotherembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a CMOS sub-harmonic mixer with adistributed inter-stage impedance transformation network in accordancewith another embodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a CMOS sub-harmonic mixer withinter-stage inductor in accordance with another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sub-harmonic mixer formillimeter wave applications is described. While the illustrativeembodiments described herein are directed to a CMOS mixer the samedesign principles can be applied for mixers implemented with MESFETs,JFETs or other technologies as well. In one embodiment, the mixer usesthree MOS transistors stacked under a single supply (Vdd) to perform theprocess of frequency doubling as well as mixing. The mixing occurs in asingle MOS transistor whose drain is driven by a signal at twice thelocal oscillator (LO) frequency and the gate driven by a radio frequency(RF) frequency signal while the transistor is biased in the linearregion.

The CMOS sub-harmonic mixer in accordance with the present principlesutilizes the differential nature of the available LO signal from avoltage controlled oscillator or other RF signal source to generate asignal at twice the available LO frequency using two MOS transistorsonly, thereby reducing the design complexity and operating frequency ofthe LO source. This signal at twice the frequency drives the drain of aMOS transistor operating in the linear region with a very low drain tosource voltage as in a drain pumped mixer. The mixing occurs due to themodulation of the transconductance of the MOS transistor by the signalat twice the LO frequency. The frequency doubling action takes placeusing two field effect transistors (FETs) whose drain and source aretied together while there gates are driven by a balanced LO.

The circuit presents inherent advantages over prior art including, butnot limited to: (i) the mixing transistor is biased in the linear regionwithout any additional DC current (it uses the DC current of thedoubler) thereby providing higher conversion gain compared to a passivedrain pumped mixer, and (ii) the drain pumped mixer is biased in thelinear region so that the LO power needed to drive the transistor fromthe linear to saturation region is very small.

According to another embodiment, the structure may be modified to accepta balanced radio frequency (RF) signal which is either provided via atransformer from a single ended low noise amplifier (LNA) or it isdirectly coupled to the output of a differential LNA. This helps inimproving 2×LO-RF isolation as the 2×LO signal appears in the same phaseon the differential RF lines.

According to another embodiment, quadrature signals are employed todrive the gates of four FETs whose drains and sources are tied togetherto result in a signal at the source and drain equal to 4 times theapplied frequency thereby resulting in a 4× sub-harmonic mixer. Theamount of voltage swing at the drain of a first FET is less than that ofa 2× sub-harmonic mixer due to the overlapping of the signals during thepositive and negative cycles. Hence, conversion loss would be greaterfor the same LO power at the gates.

According to yet another embodiment, an impedance transforming networkis introduced in between the mixing FET and the frequency doubling FETsto increase the doubling efficiency at high frequency of operation. Thispermits larger voltage swings at the drain of the mixing FET at higherfrequencies thereby improving the mixer performance such as noise figureand conversion gain.

It should be understood that the structures or circuits described hereinmay be implemented in different technologies. One illustrativetechnology may include, e.g., IBM® CMOS10SF™ technology with a channellength of 50 nm. The drain source saturation voltage for FETs in theseprocess technologies is very small hence they can be biased very deeplyin the linear region drawing very little DC current. The voltage swingon the drain would hence be enough to move the FET's region of operationfrom linear to saturation (maximum g_(m)). This biasing results insignificant power savings and provides improvement in noise figure. Theloss exhibited by these circuits is improved as compared to Gilbert-cellbased active mixers. In addition, the power saved could be employed inan IF amplifier to provide gain at IF frequencies.

Another advantage of these structures in accordance with the presentembodiments includes that the structures relax the design of the LOsource which may be a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and usedifferential signals from the VCO directly without the need of anytransformer to provide the differential signals. By reducing thefundamental frequency of the VCO, traditional cross coupled FET VCOscould be used which have better phase noise and are inherentlydifferential.

The present embodiments may also be modified to operate as anup-conversion mixer where the input to the FET would be an IF signal.However, to filter the LO signal properly from the RF signal, the IFsignal needs to be at a higher frequency such that RF and LO are fairlyseparated.

Embodiments of the present invention can take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (e.g., implementedin circuit simulation programs) or an embodiment including both hardwareand software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the present inventionis implemented in hardware, but a software implemented embodiment mayinclude but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode,etc.

Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description,a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus thatmay include, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program foruse by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (orapparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of acomputer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory,magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an opticaldisk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode may include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code to reduce the number of times code is retrieved frombulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/O devices (includingbut not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) may becoupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/Ocontrollers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems orremote printers or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters.

Circuits as described herein may be part of the design for an integratedcircuit chip. The chip design may be created in a graphical computerprogramming language, and stored in a computer storage medium (such as adisk, tape, physical hard drive, or virtual hard drive such as in astorage access network). If the designer does not fabricate chips or thephotolithographic masks used to fabricate chips, the designer transmitsthe resulting design by physical means (e.g., by providing a copy of thestorage Medium storing the design) or electronically (e.g., through theInternet) to such entities, directly or indirectly. The stored design isthen converted into the appropriate format (e.g., Graphic Data System II(GDSII)) for the fabrication of photolithographic masks, which typicallyinclude multiple copies of the chip design in question that are to beformed on a wafer. The photolithographic masks are utilized to defineareas of the wafer (and/or the layers thereon) to be etched or otherwiseprocessed.

The resulting integrated circuit chips can be distributed by thefabricator in raw wafer form (that is, as a single wafer that hasmultiple unpackaged chips), as a bare die, or in a packaged form. In thelatter case the chip is mounted in a single chip package (such as aplastic carrier, with leads that are affixed to a motherboard or otherhigher level carrier) or in a multichip package (such as a ceramiccarrier that has either or both surface interconnections or buriedinterconnections). In any case the chip is then integrated with otherchips, discrete circuit elements, and/or other signal processing devicesas part of either (a) an intermediate product, such as a motherboard, or(b) an end product. The end product can be any product that includesintegrated circuit chips, ranging from toys and other low-endapplications to advanced computer products having a display, a keyboardor other input device, and a central processor.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals represent the sameor similar elements and initially to FIG. 1, a drain pumped 2×sub-harmonic mixer 100 is shown in accordance with one embodiment. Atransistor FET 1 performs mixing and operates in a drain pumped modewhile biased in a linear region. Transistors FET 2 and FET 3 (which areidentical to each other) perform the process of frequency doubling andare directly coupled to the drain of FET 1. Gate voltages (VG1, VG2, andVG3) and gate resistances (RG1, RG2 and RG3) respectively correspond toFETs 1, 2 and 3. Vdd is the supply voltage of mixer 100.

The sources and drains of FET 2 and FET 3 are respectively tiedtogether. Since FET 2 and FET 3 are driven by equal and opposite phasesignals each of them conducts during half of the cycle. This results ina conduction rate of twice the rate of an applied frequency.

This operation eliminates all fundamental and odd ordered harmonics atthe source and drain of FET 2 and FET 3 if the conduction in both of FET2 and FET 3 is identical. This provides higher LO-RF and LO-IFisolation.

FET 1 is biased in its linear region such that the drain source voltageis very low (e.g., a few milli-volts) and the gate source voltage isslightly above threshold to have a maximum change in g_(m). Thisalso'permits the non-linear characteristics of g_(m) to predominate thatof the drain source resistance. FET 2 and FET 3 are preferably biased inthe saturation region with their gate-source voltage (V_(gs)) very closeto the threshold voltage (V_(th)).

An RF matching network 102 is employed to match an RF port 104 so as tohave maximum power transfer at the RF frequency. LO matching networks106 and 108 are employed on LO ports 110 and 112 to provide maximum LOpower transfer at the LO frequency. This determines the maximum swing atthe drain node of FET 1. A parallel RLC network 114 is used to provideDC bias as well as to tune out an intermediate frequency (IF) signal116. At the drain node, a quarter wavelength (at twice the LO frequency)transmission line stub 118 is used to provide 2×LO-IF isolation. If theRF frequency is close to twice the LO frequency, this stub 118 alsoimproves RF-IF isolation.

Advantageously, the mixer 100 uses three transistors FET 1, FET 2 andFET 3 which may be stacked under a single supply to perform the processof frequency doubling as well as mixing. The mixing occurs in FET 1whose drain is driven by a signal at twice the local oscillator (LO)frequency and the gate driven by a radio frequency (RF) frequency signalwhile the transistor is biased in the linear region.

The CMOS sub-harmonic mixer 100 utilizes the differential nature of theavailable LO signal 110 and 112 from a voltage controlled oscillator(not shown) to generate a signal at twice the available LO frequencyusing FET 2 and FET 3, thereby reducing the design complexity of the LOfrequency source. A signal 130 at twice the frequency of LO signaldrives the drain of FET 1 operating in the linear region with a very lowdrain to source voltage as in a drain pumped mixer. The mixing occursdue to the modulation of the transconductance of FET 1 by the signal 130at twice the LO frequency. The frequency doubling action takes placeusing FET 2 and FET 3 whose drain and source are tied together whiletheir gates are driven by the balanced LO.

The circuit 100 provides a higher conversion gain compared to a passivedrain pumped mixer since the mixing transistor FET 1 is biased in thelinear region without any additional DC current (it uses the DC currentof the doubler). The passive drain pumped mixing transistor FET 1 isbiased in the linear region so that the LO power needed to drive thetransistor from the linear to saturation region is very small.

Referring to FIG. 2, a CMOS drain pumped 2× sub-harmonic mixer 200 isillustratively shown in accordance with another embodiment. Mixer 200includes two of the circuits 100 as depicted shown in FIG. 1, however,RF ports 204 (+ and −) and LO ports 110 and 112 (+ and −) aredifferential signals (inputs). The structure 200 is modified from thatof circuit 100 to accept a balanced radio frequency (RF) signal which iseither provided via a transformer from a single ended low noiseamplifier (LNA) (not shown) or it is directly coupled to the output of adifferential LNA (not shown). This helps in improving 2×LO-RF isolationas the 2×LO signal appears in the same phase on the differential RFlines. The mixer takes information from the LNA in the RF ports (input)204 and down-converts it to the IF ports 216 (output).

FETs 1, 2 and 3 are identical to FETS 1′, 2′ and 3′. The differentialinputs 204 and 110 and 112 assist in improving 2×LO-RF isolation as asignal 206 at twice the LO frequency leaking through a gate-draincapacitance 202 of the RF transistors FET 1 and FET 1′ appears ascommon-mode signals on the differential RF lines 104 (+ and −) and henceis rejected. A transformer may be needed at the output of a low noiseamplifier (LNA) (not shown) in a millimeter wave transceiver or the LNAmight have to be differential in implementation.

Another advantage of this structure 200 includes the availability ofdifferential IF signals 216 which would permit low frequencydifferential IF signal processing without undergoing a single ended todifferential conversion. The 2×LO signal 130 also appears in common modeat the output which is further rejected by differential IF processingblocks (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 3, a CMOS drain pumped 4× sub-harmonic mixer 300 isillustratively shown in accordance with another embodiment. Mixer 300illustratively uses four FETs: FET 2, FET 3, FET 4 and FET 5 with commonsource and drain nodes. FETS 2, 3, 4 and 5 are driven by localoscillator signals LO(0), LO(90), LO(180), and LO(270), respectively),which are 90 degrees in phase apart from each other. Because of theoverlapping nature of the quadrature signals, a signal 330 at 4 timesthe LO frequency appearing at the source and drain node is smallcompared to its 2× counterpart (130). However, the fundamental LO (VCO)frequency is reduced by another factor of 2. A quarter wavelength (at 4×LO) open transmission line stub 318 at the output greatly improves4LO-IF isolation.

The quadrature signals LO(0), LO(90), LO(180), and LO(270) are employedto drive the gates of the FETs to result in the signal 330 at the sourceand drain equal to 4 times the applied frequency thereby resulting in a4× sub-harmonic mixer. The amount of voltage swing at the drain of FET 1is less than that of a 2× sub-harmonic mixer due to the overlapping ofthe signals during the positive and negative cycles. Hence, conversionloss would be greater for the same LO power at the gates.

It should be understood that any number of transistors may be employedin circuit 300. In the example shown, four transistors were employed toprovide a phase difference of 90. However, if n transistors are employedthen each signal has to be 360/n out of phase for each successivetransistor.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, a CMOS drain-pumped sub-harmonic mixers400, 500 and 600, respectively, with an impedance transforming networkor component (440, 540, 640) introduced in between a mixing FET 1 andthe frequency doubling FETs, FET 2 and FET 3, to increase the doublingefficiency at a high frequency of operation are illustratively shown.These structures (440, 540, 640) permit larger voltage swings at thedrain of the mixing FET 1 at higher frequencies thereby improving themixer performance such as noise figure and conversion gain.

In FIG. 4, an inter-stage transmission line stub 440 is illustrativelydepicted. The transmission line stub 440 acts like an impedancetransforming network which increases the voltage swing at the drain ofFET 1 thereby improving the noise figure and power gain. A transmissionline (440) of a certain length isolates the capacitance at the sourcesof FET 2 and FET 3 and that at the drain of FET 1. The voltage swing atthe source of FET 2 and FET 3 is lower than that at the drain of FET 1,suggesting an impedance transformation.

In FIG. 5, the mentioned impedance transformation between the drain ofFET 1 and the sources of FET 2 and FET 3 is performed by individualtransmission lines 545 and 550 between each source of the switchingtransistors and the drain of FET 1. These transmission lines 545 and 550can be used in addition to or instead of a transmission line at thedrain of FET 1 440 to realize the optimum impedance transformation.

In FIG. 6, depending on the needed value of inductance to transform thecapacitive impedance (looking into the drain of FET 1) at 2×LO frequencyinto an inductive one, an inductor 640 may also be employed provided theinductor has sufficiently large self resonant frequency, e.g., a selfresonant frequency greater than the 2×LO frequency. Such a structure 600is illustratively shown in FIG. 6.

Impedance transforming networks 440, 540 or 640 may also be employed ina 4× sub-harmonic mixer (e.g., mixer 300). In such a case, the networkor inductor 640 would need a resonant frequency greater than the 4×LOfrequency. Impedance transformation may be employed with any of theembodiments in accordance with the present principles. For example,impedance transformation would be more necessary in the 4× sub-harmonicmixer due to the increased parasitics associated therewith. Theimpedance transformation would improve the efficiency of the doubling(or quadrupling) action as well as the performance of the overall mixer.Any of the impedance transformation schemes depicted may be combined inwhole or in part as needed.

Having described preferred embodiments for drain-pumped sub-harmonicmixers for millimeter wave applications (which are intended to beillustrative and not limiting), it is noted that modifications andvariations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of theabove teachings. It is therefore to be understood that changes may bemade in the particular embodiments disclosed which are within the scopeand spirit of the invention as outlined by the appended claims. Havingthus described aspects of the invention, with the details andparticularity required by the patent laws, what is claimed and desiredprotected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

1. A sub-harmonic mixer comprising, a first transistor having a sourceand a drain; a second transistor having a source connected to the sourceof the first transistor and a drain connected to the drain of the firsttransistor; a mixing transistor configured to be biased in a linearoperating region, the mixing transistor having a drain coupled to thesources of the first transistor and the second transistor, the mixingtransistor having its drain driven by a signal at twice a localoscillator (LO) frequency and its gate driven by a radio frequency (RF)signal while the mixing transistor is biased in the linear region suchthat a process of frequency doubling and mixing are performedsimultaneously.
 2. The mixer as recited in claim 1, wherein the drainsof the first transistor and the second transistor are coupled to atransmission line stub to provide isolation between a doubled localoscillator (LO) frequency signal and an intermediate frequency (IF)signal.
 3. The mixer as recited in claim 2, wherein the drains of thefirst transistor and the second transistor are coupled to a parallel RLCnetwork to provide direct current (DC) bias and to tune out the IFsignal.
 4. The mixer as recited in claim 1, further comprising animpedance transforming network connected between the mixing transistorand the first and second transistors to increase doubling efficiency andpermit larger voltage swings at the drain of the mixing transistor toimprove performance.
 5. The mixer as recited in claim 4, wherein theimpedance transforming network includes a transmission line stub.
 6. Themixer as recited in claim 4, wherein the impedance transforming networkincludes an inductor.
 7. The mixer as recited in claim 1, wherein thefirst and second transistors include gates driven by a balanced localoscillator signal.
 8. A sub-harmonic mixer comprising: n transistors,each having, a gate, a source and a drain, such that the sources are allconnected and the drains are all connected, each of the n transistorshaving a local oscillator (LO) frequency input to the gate of thetransistors where the LO signal is 360/n out of phase for eachsuccessive transistor; a mixing transistor configured to be biased in alinear operating region, the mixing transistor having a drain coupled tothe sources of the n transistors, the mixing transistor having its draindriven by a signal at a multiple of the local oscillator (LO) frequencyin accordance with the n transistors and the mixing transistor havingits gate driven by a radio frequency (RF) signal while the mixingtransistor is biased in the linear region such that a process ofproviding an output frequency and mixing are performed simultaneously.9. The mixer as recited in claim 8, wherein the drains of the ntransistors are coupled to a transmission line stub to provide isolationbetween a multiple local oscillator (LO) frequency signal and anintermediate frequency (IF) signal.
 10. The mixer as recited in claim 9,wherein the drains of the n transistors are coupled to a parallel RLCnetwork to provide direct current (DC) bias and to tune out the IFsignal.
 11. The mixer as recited in claim 8, further comprising animpedance transforming network connected between the mixing transistorand the n transistors to increase efficiency and permit larger voltageswings at the drain of the mixing transistor to improve performance. 12.The mixer as recited in claim 11, wherein the impedance transformingnetwork includes a transmission line stub.
 13. The mixer as recited inclaim 11, wherein the impedance transforming network includes aninductor.
 14. The mixer as recited in claim 8, wherein the n transistorsincludes four transistors and the output frequency is four times the LOfrequency.
 15. A differential complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) sub-harmonic mixer, comprising, a first mixer circuit configuredto receive a first differential input for a radio frequency (RF) signaland a first differential input for a local oscillator (LO) frequencysignal; a second mixer circuit configured to receive a seconddifferential input for the radio'frequency (RF) signal and a seconddifferential input for the frequency signal; the first mixer circuit andthe second mixer circuit each including: a first transistor having asource and a drain; a second transistor having a source connected to thesource of the first transistor and a drain connected to the drain of thefirst transistor; a mixing transistor configured to be biased in alinear operating region, the mixing transistor having a drain coupled tothe sources of the first transistor and the second transistor, themixing transistor having its drain driven by a signal at twice a localoscillator (LO) frequency and its gate driven by a correspondingdifferential radio frequency (RF) signal while the mixing transistor isbiased in the linear region such that a process of frequency doublingand mixing are performed simultaneously.
 16. The mixer as recited inclaim 15, wherein the drains of the first transistor and the secondtransistor in each of the first mixing circuit and the second mixingcircuit are coupled to a transmission line stub to provide isolationbetween a doubled local oscillator (LO) frequency signal and anintermediate frequency (IF) signal.
 17. The mixer as recited in claim16, wherein the drains of the first transistor and the second transistorin each of the first mixing circuit and the second mixing circuit arecoupled to a parallel RLC network to provide direct current (DC) biasand to tune out the IF signal.
 18. The mixer as recited in claim 15,further comprising an impedance transforming network connected betweenthe mixing transistor and the first and second transistors in each ofthe first mixing circuit and the second mixing circuit to increasedoubling efficiency and permit larger voltage swings at the drain of themixing transistor to improve performance.
 19. The mixer as recited inclaim 18, wherein the impedance transforming network includes one of atransmission line stub and an inductor.
 20. The mixer as recited inclaim 15, wherein the first and second transistors in each of the firstmixing circuit and the second mixing circuit include gates driven by abalanced local oscillator signal.